Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.
Our labour preserves us from three great evils -- weariness, vice, and want.
Martin in particular concluded that man was born to live either in the convulsions of misery, or in the lethargy of boredom.
Imagine all contradictions, all possible incompatibilities--you will find them in the government, in the law-courts, in the churches, in the public shows of this droll nation.
Even in those cities which seem to enjoy the blessings of peace, and where the arts florish, the inhabitants are devoured by envy, cares and anxieties, which are greater plagues than any expirienced in a town when it is under siege.
All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers.
A fondness for roving, for making a name for themselves in their onw country, and for boasting of what they had seen in their travels, was so strong in our two wanderers, that they resolved to be no longer happy; and demanded permission of the king t...
Los Padres son dueños de todo y la gente no posée nada; es la obra maestra de la razón y la justicia. Yo no encuentro nada tan extraordinario como los Padres, que aquí luchan contra el rey de España y el de Portugal, y que allí, en Europa, conf...
had no need of a guide to learn ignorance
My dear young lady, when you are in love, and jealous, and have been flogged by the Inquisition, there's no knowing what you may do.
All I know,' said Candide, 'is that we must cultivate our garden.
Let us work without reasoning,' said Martin; 'it is the only way to make life endurable.
But for what purpose was the earth formed?" asked Candide. "To drive us mad," replied Martin.
when man was put into the garden of eden, he was put there with the idea that he should work the land; and this proves that man was not born to be idle.
What can be more absurd than choosing to carry a burden that one really wants to throw to the ground? To detest, and yet to strive to preserve our existence? To caress the serpent that devours us and hug him close to our bosoms tillhe has gnawed into...
She blushed and so did he. She greeted him in a faltering voice, and he spoke to her without knowing what he was saying.
mankind have a little corrupted nature, for they were not born wolves, and they have become wolves; God has given them neither cannon of four-and-twenty pounders, nor bayonets; and yet they have made cannon and bayonets to destroy one another.
Optimism," said Cacambo, "What is that?" "Alas!" replied Candide, "It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.
